Republicans in Congress passed and President Trump signed a 2,200 page $1.3 trillion dollar budget. To say this bill is bad is an understatement. Haven’t you heard this all before? It seems like every other month I’m writing about how Congress passed a horrible budget deal. That’s because this isn’t the first time we’ve crossed this bridge.
This budget funds Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider. It hardly funds a fraction of President Trump’s proposed border wall. The bill continues to send money to cities that harbor illegal aliens. Lastly, the bill continues to fund various wasteful projects and increases our national debt by the billions.
A few background points regarding this legislation are in order. As mentioned before, it is over 2,200 pages in length. Not only is it extremely large, it was presented to members at 7:57 PM EST on Wednesday, March 21. The House of Representatives voted on the bill around noon the following day. This means that many, if not all, of the members of Congress failed to read the bill. The Senate voted on the legislation nearly 24 hours after its release. I highly doubt any Senator read the entire bill. In fact, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) only made it through 600 pages before he had to stop so he could go to the Senate floor and vote no on the bill.
Another startling point regarding this bill is that it was agreed upon behind closed doors between Speaker Paul Ryan, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Four members out of 535 decided what would and wouldn’t be included in this legislation.
The frustration with Washington continues to grow. The American people have sent Republicans to Washington to enact conservative policies. Instead, Republicans campaign on conservative policies then go to Washington and enact the same horrible policies that Democrats promote. Some rightfully ask, what is the point of sending Republicans to Washington if they’re going to do the same thing as Democrats?
In addition to all of this mess, Congress is going on vacation for two weeks while refusing to officially go on recess. Why is this important? If Congress would go on recess then President Trump could make what is called recess appointments. The Constitution allows the president to unilaterally make appointments to certain government positions while Congress is on recess. Instead of going on recess, the Republicans go in session for a few minutes each day. All it takes is one Congressman or Senator to gavel into session and then two minutes later gavel out of session. Meanwhile, the other 534 other representatives are on vacation.
All of this to say, the rotten swamp is winning. Republicans continue to side with Democrats to block President Trump and his agenda. Unfortunately, this time President Trump went along with the swamp and signed the horrible budget bill while failing to call out Congress for refusing to allow him recess appointments.
Who’s responsible for this mess? Many people, but the two main culprits are Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. For this reason, the resignations of McConnell and Ryan are long overdue.
On Friday, the president said “never again” will he sign such a budget. We shall see. As discouraging as this news is, we must continue to fight these politicians. While there may not be a short term solution to the corruption in Washington, it is our duty as Americans to continually expose it. Whenever the thought arises that this might be a losing fight, I think back on our Founding Fathers, specifically George Washington. I’m sure he had days where he was discouraged but he didn’t quit. He continued the fight and helped our country gain independence from the King of Great Britain. Today, our fight isn’t against a foreign King. Instead, it’s against those who think they are kings in Washington, D.C. We must not quit.
